When I was a kid in Baddeck, people were brought up in political parties.

We were Liberals, and everyone knew it. My parents were Liberals. My grandparents on both sides were Liberals. In my dad’s house, we have a framed photo of late Liberal premier Angus L. MacDonald’s first cabinet; it was a gift from Angus L. to my maternal grandfather in Lingan for his help in that first victorious campaign.

I recall in Grade 3 seeing my Liberals lose the in-class election. It was a harbinger. We got pummeled provincewide, but I think Dr. C. L. MacMillan held Victoria. I will never forget those schoolyard arguments with my friend Leonard Smith. I was in Grade 4 or 5 when my mom, who came to be known in Liberal circles as “The Godmother,” went to Pierre Trudeau’s leadership convention.

If you drove anywhere near Baddeck during the 1968 election (and for a good many elections after that) and you saw a Liberal poster up along the road, there was a good chance that I put it up. I will bet that if I looked in my dad’s basement, we still have some of those old plywood backers.

I have served on riding executives and campaign committees, and I've been a winning election day chair in a large Toronto riding. I remember, with a guy named Warnie Richardson, winning a poll in Wolfville for the Liberals in the 1978 federal election — something everyone marvelled at, as no one could ever remember it happening before. And I remember going to annual Liberal meetings in Halifax — ourselves from Baddeck and the MacAskills from Englishtown.

God, we had fun.

So I would stack my Liberal pedigree up against anyone’s. In 1968, as I was putting up posters for his father, today’s Liberal leader had not yet even been conceived. Yet this same Justin Trudeau has, with a single swoop, relegated me to second-class Liberal. Really, it amounts to expulsion.

Why? Well, for having the temerity to believe that it is wrong to kill unborn babies.

There are those who think the humanity of the unborn is a question of opinion, and others who see it as an issue of fact. That is a debate for another day.

The point here is that there are valid differences of opinion on this matter. Furthermore, there are Catholics who actually believe in Catholicism and believe as a matter of faith that abortion is wrong because it is homicide. Other people of other faiths believe the same.

However, according to Justin Trudeau, if such people wish to be a Liberal, they must forsake, renounce, abandon and betray their moral conscience and faith.

Trudeau might reply that this only applies to new candidates. That would be the answer of one who wishes to avail himself of the financial contributions and volunteer efforts of pro-life believers, but who holds those beliefs and the believers in complete contempt.

I have no personal aspirations to ever hold public office; nevertheless, every Liberal has always had the right to imagine himself or herself a candidate, carrying the banner.

Until now, the Liberal party has never had second-class members. But Trudeau has changed that, for there are now two classes: Those who may aspire to be the nominee and those who may never aspire to stand as a candidate because of their moral beliefs and/or their religion, regardless of their ability to persuade their fellow Grits at a nomination meeting.

Make no mistake about it: Under Trudeau’s diktat, no Catholic who believes in his or her religion may stand for a Liberal nomination in a Canadian federal election.

Obviously, Trudeau may induce some potential candidates — for their political advancement — to abandon their beliefs or to deny them or to simply remain mute (though how can they certify their political correctness without betrayal of their conscience?).

But there are those who believe it is wrong to kill an unborn baby, and who accept what Pope Francis has said — that abortion is an abomination. And, as to would-be Liberals who hold that belief, undoubtedly their time, energy and money are perfectly welcome. Yet Trudeau has essentially said: ‘But, Catholic, don’t get uppity. Stay in your place and leave it to your betters to run for the seat.’

So, after all these years, I am second class.

For almost 50 years, the Liberal party has had my support, some of my money, my time, my energy and my voice raised in its defence. It has had my loyalty. But it does not get my soul.

And next time, Justin Trudeau can put up his own damn posters.

R.J. Blaise MacLean is a native of Baddeck. He formerly practised law in Nova Scotia and Ontario, and now teaches common law, oral advocacy and international economic law in Colombia.